"You're going to have some butterflies" in the playoffs regardless of a player's experience, Raycroft said. "You can only get so nervous, and I was pretty close to where I like to be. It keeps you focused."

The Bruins got a boost when captain Joe Thornton, their leading scorer, returned after missing two games with an upper body injury.

He was hurt April 1 when he was hit on the wrist and fell against Washington.

Sergei Gonchar, acquired from the Capitals at the trade deadline, made it 1-0 5:12 in on a 40-foot wrist shot after taking a drop pass from Michael Nylander, also acquired from the Capitals.

The pair combined for the second goal with 59 seconds left in the first when Gonchar passed the puck from 45 feet in the center of the offensive zone to Nylander, who tipped it in from the right corner of the crease.

Mike Knuble made it 3-0 with 1:36 left in the second when he tipped in a shot that 18-year-old rookie Patrice Bergeron put into the crease from a few feet to the left of goalie Jose Theodore.

The 40-year-old captain has skated by himself in recent weeks, but Burns said Stevens' status is uncertain.

"We all love Scotty," Burns said. "I would throw him in the game right now. You all know that. But what we have to do, and what we did a while ago, was put ourselves in the frame of mind that he was not going to be there.

"That's exactly what we did and what we are doing until we are told. It makes great writing stuff for you to talk about, but we don't talk about it."